Artist's Statement

Books have held a prominent place in my life for over 30 years, I guess you can say I have had several book “lives”. As a trained Rare Book Conservator I have washed, pressed, sewn, repaired, bound, and preserved books in library conservation labs for many years. This experience gave me a valuable foundation in book structures and exposure to many styles of book bindings. During my time as a Conservator I had the opportunity to study book design, paper making, letterpress printing, and other related areas in the book arts. Eventually I was offered the opportunity to establish a limited edition Fine Press workshop at the University of Utah, Marriott Library, where I taught classes on the history and practice of handpress printing and book making.

An internship in rare book conservation at the Library of Congress provided an introduction to many rare and unusual books from around the world. This exposure ignited a lifelong interest and passion for traditional and non-traditional book structures and provided the inspiration for my total emersion into the book arts. It also inspired a move from the desert of Utah to my home in the Pacific Northwest.

For the next 14 years, as an artist -in-residence in several States, I taught classes in the book arts to grades K-12 and led many teacher workshops. Teaching inspired and encouraged me to explore and expand the concept of book in exciting and unusual ways, such as books inside sea shells, walnuts, eggs, the construction of a five foot accordion book of Haiku and books that hung from the ceiling and climbed up the wall.

After many years of traveling it was time to stay put for awhile . This led to another “book” career as a Youth Services Librarian at the Port Townsend Public Library. During this time I continued to teach and create one-of-a-kind artist books.

Today, newly retired from the library, I divide my time between volunteering at Center Valley Animal Rescue Center and creating artist books, exhibiting at local and regional galleries.